Ururguay is just a great country. Apparently it is known as the Switzerland of South America. Having never been to Switzerland, I find it difficult to draw comparison, but based on this trip I now think that Switzerland must be a very nice place. Colonia and Carmelo We started our trip to Uruguay by catching the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento. This town is located north of BA and known as a popular day-trip destination. We decided to take our time exploring and so stayed for a total of 3 nights, all of them at the lovely Casa Teresa. It is a little bit outside the centre (maybe a 20 minute walk), but well worth the effort. Teresa lives in the main house with her family and has built a small complex in ... read more

Well, what can I say. I have been dreaming of it since I was 4 years old, talking about it with Barry since we started going out together over 5 years ago and planning it seriously for the last year or so. That´s right, it is my year in South and Central America and it started on 5th September! We left Heathrow and after 2 flights, with a short stop at Sao Paulo, we made it to Buenos Aires. We had been on the same plane for over 15 hours and all in all, this was probably not the best state to face a city that puts London in the shade (in terms of size at least). Still, we changed some money at the airport and caught a bus into the centre. We started walking through ... read more

See Ouarzazate and keep going Africa » Morocco By Ruth from Wales April 8th 2007 Ruth JohnMorocco - 2 weeks - from Imperial cities to the Sahara to the High Atlas mountains, with gorges, scorpions, a fiat uno and moroccan wine in between. (I will write more when I get the time, but for now, here are some pictures in vaguely chronological order...)... read more

.... following on from my previous blog on Poland.... Day 4 And so after a one hour journey from Zakopane in Poland we arrived in Tatranska Lomnica in Slovakia. This is another Tatra town - smaller than Zakopane but a good base for hikes, etc. We went straight to our hotel (the Penzion Encian) where we had a very nice en-suite and warm room and emptied our bags (to make the place feel more like home!). Soon after we were out to explore the place. Tatranska Lomnica itself is very small, with some nice restaurants and bars but not really anything else of substance. We decided to take the local cable-car up to Skalnate Pleso (1751 m). After a bit of confusion as to where the cable car goes from (hint - the Lonely Planet guide ... read more

For my birthday, Barry took me on a secret trip. I didn't have a clue where we were going until we were at the airport check-in counter - very exciting! Despite temperatures exceeding 40 degrees celsius, we had a great long weekend in Madrid and Toledo. The high temperatures obviously meant that we had to take it easy sometimes - taking siestas for an hour or two in the middle of the day. I must admit though that I have always been a fan of the siesta and found this a very enjoyable part of the trip! There are plenty of things to see and do in Madrid. I will start with the more cultural aspects of any visit. We enjoyed a number of the museums on offer, including two of the 'big ones'. We went ... read more